Contextual Factors and Organizational Commitment: Examining the Mediating Role of Thriving at Work

Ghulam Abid,Tehmina Qazi,Saira Ahmed,Francoise Contreras

doi:10.3390/su11174686

Abstract

Thriving at work refers to a psychological experience of learning (cognitive dimension) and vitality (affective dimension) to the workplace. Based on the Social Exchange Theory and the Socially Embedded Model of thriving, the purpose of this research is to observe whether contextual variables such as fairness perception, trust, and managerial coaching are related to affective organizational commitment and to examine if thriving at work plays a mediating role in these proposed relationships. Data was collected in two waves over a one-month time period from 936 employees of diverse public and private sectors. Strong empirical evidence was found for all direct and indirect hypothesized relationships through Smart PLS 3.0 (SmartPLS GmbH, Bönningstedt, Germany, 2015). The implications of the findings are also discussed.

Highlights

Thriving at work, as a factor of human sustainability and sustainable performance, is getting increasing attention in the organizational behavior field, especially in the past decade [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Our results provide empirical support to the socially embedded model of thriving proposed by Spreitzer et al [2], that is, that contextual factors shape thriving at work
Consistent with previous findings, our study discovered that managerial coaching [39], trust [96], and fairness perception [97] is positively related to affective organizational commitment

Summary

Introduction

As a factor of human sustainability and sustainable performance, is getting increasing attention in the organizational behavior field, especially in the past decade [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Pfeffer [8] narrowed down the concept of sustainability to the overarching term ‘social sustainability’, which mirrors the ways in which management practices and organizational activities affect employee well-being, subjective health, and performance in a sustainable way. Employee vitality can be considered a crucial aspect of the sustainable work performance that is useful for understanding how employee health, well-being, and performance are related to long-term productivity and viability [12]. Both dimensions of thriving serve as an adaptive function that helps individuals to develop in a forward direction promoting growth (short-term) and adaptability (long-term) towards the work context [2,3]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion